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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 07:55 GMT

Latest News

INDIA: New Leader Brings Hope for Peace in Kashmir
By Athar Parvaiz
SRINAGAR, Jan 6 (IPS) - As tensions brew between India and Pakistan, a newly elected provincial government, led by the regional, pro-India National Conference (NC) party, has taken over the reins in Jammu and Kashmir -- a territory whose ownership has long been disputed by Pakistan.
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MIDEAST: U.N. Diplomats Frustrated at Gaza Impasse
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 5 (IPS) - Disappointed with the Security Council's inaction regarding the worsening situation in Gaza, diplomats from numerous nations of the global South are close to taking the case of Israeli aggression to the U.N. General Assembly.
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U.S.: Networks' Int'l News Coverage at Record Low in 2008
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (IPS) - Despite two wars involving more than 200,000 U.S. troops and a global economic crisis, foreign-related news coverage by the three major U.S. television networks fell to a record low during 2008, according to the latest annual review of network news coverage by the authoritative Tyndall Report.
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FILM: 1982 Massacre Rendered Through Dark, Distorted Lens
By Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (IPS) - Recently opened in wide release in the United States, Ari Folman's new animated documentary detailing Israeli involvement in the Sabra and Shatila massacre sheds new light on the Israeli side of that conflict, as well as the one unfolding today.
MORE >>

ECONOMY-BRAZIL: An Island in Stormy Waters
By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 5 (IPS) - Brazil is not immune to the current global financial crisis, but there are many indications that it will remain largely safe from the recession shaking the world’s rich countries and that economic growth will stay at reasonable levels if the meltdown is neither deeper nor longer than expected.
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POLITICS: Bush Plan Eliminated Obstacle to Gaza Assault
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON, Jan 5 (IPS) - Until mid-2007, there was a serious political obstacle to a massive conventional war by Israel against Hamas in Gaza: the fact that Hamas had won free and fair elections for the Palestinian parliament and was still the leading faction in a fully legitimate government.
MORE >>

INDIA: Delivers Diplomatic Ultimatum to Pakistan
By Indranil Banerjie
NEW DELHI, Jan 5 (IPS) - India’s Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday that his government has delivered a dossier to Pakistan containing evidence of the involvement of Pakistanis in the Mumbai massacre -- an act that strategic experts say amounts to an ultimatum to bring the perpetrators to Indian justice.
MORE >>

POLITICS-GHANA: New President Must Tackle Economy
By Francis Kokutse
Accra, Jan 5 (IPS) - As Ghana’s president-elect, John Evans Atta Mills, prepares to take office, he has his work cut out for him translating several years of strong macro-economic performance into tangible benefits for the majority of Ghanaians.
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PERU: Open-Pit Mine Continues to Swallow City
By Milagros Salazar
CERRO DE PASCO, Peru, Jan 5 (IPS) - An immense open-pit mine located 4380 metres above sea level is swallowing up the centre of the city of Cerro de Pasco in Peru’s central highlands, while the damages, in the form of toxic waste, spread to nearby villages.
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NEPAL: Army-Rebel Integration Hangs Fire
By Renu Kshetry
KATHMANDU, Jan 5 (IPS) - Two years after Maoist fighters put aside their arms and agreed to place themselves in United Nations-monitored camps, the issue of integrating them into the regular Nepal army as part of a peace process hangs fire.
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Global Affairs

MIDEAST: U.N. Diplomats Frustrated at Gaza Impasse
By Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS - Disappointed with the Security Council's inaction regarding the worsening situation in Gaza, diplomats from numerous nations of the global South are close to taking the case of Israeli aggression to the U.N. General Assembly.
MORE >>

U.S.: Networks' Int'l News Coverage at Record Low in 2008
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Despite two wars involving more than 200,000 U.S. troops and a global economic crisis, foreign-related news coverage by the three major U.S. television networks fell to a record low during 2008, according to the latest annual review of network news coverage by the authoritative Tyndall Report.
MORE >>

MIDEAST: U.S. Branch of Amnesty Calls on Rice to Drop "Lopsided" Stance
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - The U.S. section of Amnesty International sent an "urgent" letter Friday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calling on her to end what it called Washington's "lopsided response" to the ongoing Israeli air strikes on Gaza that have reportedly killed more than 400 Palestinians, including scores of unarmed civilians.
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IRAN: ‘I Want to Present a Different View of the Women in My Country’
By Omid Memarian interviews Iranian activist SUSSAN TAHMASEBI
BERKELEY, California - The U.S. government’s calls for civil society to work for "regime change" in Iran has increased pressure on activists on the ground who are engaged in a peaceful process of improving their society and addressing social problems, according to Sussan Tahmasebi, a prominent women’s right activist in Iran who has not been allowed to leave the country for the past two years.
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MIDEAST: Jewish Organisations Call For End to Gaza Bombings
By Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON - With a fresh outbreak of violence between Israel and Palestine, a battle of a different sort is being waged in Washington between various interests in Mid- East policy circles.
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MDGs

PERU: Open-Pit Mine Continues to Swallow City
By Milagros Salazar
CERRO DE PASCO, Peru - An immense open-pit mine located 4380 metres above sea level is swallowing up the centre of the city of Cerro de Pasco in Peru’s central highlands, while the damages, in the form of toxic waste, spread to nearby villages.
MORE >>

HEALTH-MALAYSIA: Divided Over HIV Testing
By Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR - A raging debate over mandatory HIV screening has exposed fear and ignorance within government, despite years of awareness campaigns to eradicate prejudice against people living with the virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
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ARGENTINA: Ecoclubs Draw Youngsters into Environmental Leadership
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES - Ecoclubs, an international social movement of teenagers and young people who work with their communities to enhance quality of life through environmentally-related initiatives, while developing their own potential for leadership and action, were born in Argentina 16 years ago and have since expanded to 30 countries in Latin America, Europe and Africa.
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HEALTH-AFRICA: Maximising the Benefits of AIDS Funding
By Rosemary Okello*
NAIROBI - Significant new investments in the fight against the AIDS pandemic could have positive impacts on broader health systems in Africa if governments handle them right.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Community Gardens Contribute to Food Security
By Stephanie Nieuwoudt
CAPE TOWN - A few years ago 66-year-old grandmother Regina Fhiceka and her family of five ate vegetables only once a week. They would survive on maize and bread the rest of the time -- the cheapest food available in the poor township of Philippi, just 15 minutes from the affluent business district of Cape Town.
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Environment

ENVIRONMENT-CAMBODIA: Opting For The Big Dam
By Andrew Nette
PHNOM PENH - It has been a long held plan of Cambodia’s government -- a hydropower dam on the mainstream of the Mekong River in the central part of the country.
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ENVIRONMENT: Climate Change Forcing Penguins North?
By Adrianne Appel*
BOSTON - Warm ocean currents may have confused some 2,500 penguins from Argentina's Patagonia region that washed up -- dead and alive -- on Brazil's northern coast.
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PORTUGAL: Mega Solar Power Plant Begins to Operate
By Mario de Queiroz
AMARELEJA, Portugal - The most ambitious and innovative solar power project in the world kicked off Monday in this white-walled village in the southern Portuguese municipality of Moura, one of the most impoverished areas in the European Union.
MORE >>

Human Rights

INDIA: New Leader Brings Hope for Peace in Kashmir
By Athar Parvaiz
SRINAGAR - As tensions brew between India and Pakistan, a newly elected provincial government, led by the regional, pro-India National Conference (NC) party, has taken over the reins in Jammu and Kashmir -- a territory whose ownership has long been disputed by Pakistan.
MORE >>

FILM: 1982 Massacre Rendered Through Dark, Distorted Lens
By Ali Gharib
WASHINGTON - Recently opened in wide release in the United States, Ari Folman's new animated documentary detailing Israeli involvement in the Sabra and Shatila massacre sheds new light on the Israeli side of that conflict, as well as the one unfolding today.
MORE >>

POLITICS: Bush Plan Eliminated Obstacle to Gaza Assault
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON - Until mid-2007, there was a serious political obstacle to a massive conventional war by Israel against Hamas in Gaza: the fact that Hamas had won free and fair elections for the Palestinian parliament and was still the leading faction in a fully legitimate government.
MORE >>

INDIA: Delivers Diplomatic Ultimatum to Pakistan
By Indranil Banerjie
NEW DELHI - India’s Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday that his government has delivered a dossier to Pakistan containing evidence of the involvement of Pakistanis in the Mumbai massacre -- an act that strategic experts say amounts to an ultimatum to bring the perpetrators to Indian justice.
MORE >>

Health

AIDS-LATIN AMERICA: Neglect, Ageism Put Older People at Risk
By Marcela Valente*
BUENOS AIRES - AIDS prevention campaigns tend to target the young, who make up a large percentage of those infected with the disease. But experts in Latin America say that people in older age ranges with an increasingly active sex life are being neglected, and are at risk because of lack of information.
MORE >>

MEXICO: Manganese Mines Harm Children's Mental Development
By Diego Cevallos*
MEXICO CITY - The Mexican mining company Autlán maintains that there is no evidence that manganese causes any harm to human health. But in the central state of Hidalgo, where the metal is mined, adults shake as if they suffered from Parkinson's disease and children's mental development lags behind normal.
MORE >>